I am Will Dunham and I am in Washington, D.C., where I cover a wide range of [science topics](https://www.reuters.com/authors/will-dunham/) for Reuters. We have recently hit the [200th anniversary of the first formal scientific recognition of a dinosaur](https://www.reuters.com/science/first-dinosaur-was-named-200-years-ago-we-know-so-much-more-now-2024-02-13/) — our toothy friend Megalosaurus — and there are many other developments in the field of dinosaur paleontology as well.
I have been a journalist in Washington since 1984 and at Reuters since 1994. I have covered science news for Reuters off and on since 2001 and I’m also an editor on the Reuters Global News Desk. On the science front, I have covered everything from voracious black holes to tiny neutrinos, the sprawling human genome to the oldest-known DNA, the evolution of our species to the field of space medicine, and of course all things relating to dinosaurs and other intriguing prehistoric creatures.
**Ask me anything and everything dinosaur-related and I will answer from 3-4 p.m. Eastern.**
Proof: [https://www.reddit.com/media?url=https%3A%2F%2Fi.redd.it%2Ffnrv1k363ipc1.jpeg](https://www.reddit.com/media?url=https%3A%2F%2Fi.redd.it%2Ffnrv1k363ipc1.jpeg)
In: Biology
What explains the huge increase in desirability of dinosaur fossils? In the past decade, it seems Hollywood stars, Saudi princes, and tech moguls have been buying skulls and near complete specimens, and major auction houses are treating these top end fossils like fine art?
Is this a function of childhood nostalgia of dinosaurs toys and books? Or a financial “flex” of owning something incredibly rare and exclusive…or perhaps something else?
Just this morning, my neighbor (he is four) was wearing tee-shirt with a Stegosaurus and a swimming dinosaur!
We had a whole conversation about water-related dinosaurs and why we don’t know more about them.
So my question is: Why don’t we hear more about water-related dinosaurs?!? Are there fewer fossils? Less interest? Thanks so much.
What is your favorite dinosaur and why?
Do you belive there are undiscovered fossils near Phoenix AZ?
Why do sauropods like the Dreadnoughtus and Brachiosaur get around the square cube law?
What “kind” of creature do pre-flight dinosaurs count as?
Livestock, fish of the sea, birds of the air, wild animals, things that crawl on the ground, humans, angels, or some combination of the former (like nephilim but sons of god and daughters of birds maybe)?
Two questions!
1: Is there any hope that some day we will be able to figure out what dinosaurs actually looked like? Seeing representations of modern-day animals reconstructed from their skeletal systems alone (ex: [https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/natashaumer/dinosaur-animals](https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/natashaumer/dinosaur-animals)) makes me think that our conception of the dinosaur physique is wildly off. Do you think it’s likely that any particular new findings or methods can help shed more light on dinosaur pigmentation / shape / etc.?
2. Is there any chance that dinosaur cloning ever becomes feasible?
Thank you!
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